APNewsBreak: Money for Indian land buys will come up short

(AP) — An ambitious effort to restore tribal control over huge areas of privately owned land on American Indian reservations is projected to run out of money with millions of acres still unaddressed, according to a U.S. government report obtained by The Associated Press.

The Obama administration established the "land buyback program" under a $1.9 billion legal settlement that determined the government squandered billions of dollars it held in trust for tribes from royalties on oil and gas leases, grazing and other uses of Indian lands.

A final decision will be made following consultations with lawmakers and tribal leaders, Interior officials said.

A spokesman for Wyoming U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, chair of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, said the Obama administration emphasized when the case was settled that it needed only a 10-year window to accomplish its goals.

Parcels of land bought through the program are transferred to tribal governments to be put to beneficial use — such as for home sites or business locations — or preserved as cultural or ceremonial sites